Of Love and Promises

A 36-year-old Draco Potter sat on the window seat of his and Harry's room, overlooking the Quidditch pitch, that he had flown on so many times when he was younger.

Outside flying high above the pitch fourteen-year-old Sally Potter looked up saw him looking at her and waved.

He waved back and smiled as she showed off her Quidditch skills.

A door opening behind him made him jump and he looked up to see his husband of fifteen years.

"What you doing?" He asked, approaching Draco who pointed out of the window and replied "Quidditch Practice" Just as Sally caught the snitch. "She may look like me but she definitely has your talent when it comes to Quidditch."

And it's true Sally did have Draco's looks. With her silvery blonde hair and gray-blue eyes. Unfortunately she had also inherited Harry's poor eyesight along with his keen instincts and skill.

"I like to think -" Harry began, squeezing onto the window seat next to Draco and wrapping his arm around his shoulders, trying to avoid falling back off of the seat. "She has my Quidditch skill and your flying skills. You always were a better flyer than I was. That was one of the things about you that I feel in love with. And if you put them together you've got a perfect but lethal combination."

"Yeah" He replied, resting his head on Harry's shoulder, "Anyone playing Slytherin had better watch out."

"Look!" Harry suddenly said, pointing out of the window towards the forest, where two twelve year olds were, obviously trying to sneak into the forest without getting caught, again.

"Not again." Draco exclaimed as he stood up and straightened his robes, "I suppose I'd better get down there. I swear that boy gets more and more like you every day." He said with a sigh.

"I wasn't that bad. Besides you were just as bad and you know it. Now get down there."

There was a 'pop' and Draco disappeared. The new headmistress, [well new one about twelve years ago] Minerva McGonagall had altered the no apparition rule on the school allowing teachers to apparate around the actual school, just not off or on to the grounds.

******

"Good Afternoon" A smooth, silky voice suddenly said from behind them.

"Damn. It's Dad!" The paler of the two whispered. They both turned around to find themselves face to face with their Potions Professor and head of Slytherin house. Not exactly the best person to cross.

"Dad- I mean Professor Potter. Nice to see you." Tom Potter said hoping he sounded more innocent than he felt and looked.

"What would two young boys such as yourselves be doing around this area?" [Jeez! I'm even starting to sound like Snape now. If my hair starts turning black and my nose gets longer I'm gonna quit]

"Well we - we -we were just -" Jordan Weasley stammered.

"Just trying to sneak into the forest Mr. Weasley. Yes, Yes, I know what you were doing. Well let's see. Since you didn't actually go in there I can't give you detention. So that won't work. [Tom breathed a sigh of relief] But I can however take ten points from Gryffindor and Slytherin house. And give you a promise that the head of Gryffindor will find out about this. [Jordan gulped. His mum finding out about it was worse than detention.] Now run along, I expect you have some homework or something else you haven't done to occupy your time with."

The boys started to walk away, back up to the castle.

"Why didn't you say something to him?" Jordan asked quietly, but loud enough for Draco to hear.

"Like what?" Tom replied sarcastically [he also inherited Draco's bored drawl along with his looks and Harry's ability to sneak around the school, usually getting caught in the process]

"I don't know. You could have thought of something. He's your dad. -" And then they went out of ear shot.

Chuckling to himself Draco apparated back up to his room, Harry had disappeared, He must have a class Draco thought.

******

Later that evening, at dinner, Draco and Harry were sat at the head table talking to Hermione and Ron. [Hermione was head of Gryffindor House, as well as Charms Professor. And they were married with a kid, Jordan, who was a Gryffindor just like both his parents had been)]

"I caught Tom and Jordan trying to sneak into the forest again today." Draco told Hermione and Ron.

"Not again! I hope you gave them detention." Hermione sighed.

"Nah! I just took ten points of both houses and told him I'd tell you." He replied chuckling.

"I bet that had a better effect than detention will ever have." Harry said.

"Probably"

******

It was about five in the morning and the sunlight pouring in through the window woke Harry up.

He sat up in the huge four poster bed, yawned and stretched as an excited seven-year-old came bounding noisily into the bedroom. "Daddy!" He cried as he jumped onto the bed, straight into Harry's arms.

"Hi Danny!" Harry said as he kissed his sons hair, which was black just like his.

Draco stirred in his sleep and turned over so he was lying on his back, but he didn't wake up.

"Daddy's lazy isn't he?"

"Yeah he is. He's a big lazy lump. [Harry paused and thought for a moment] give me your hand"

"Why?" Daniel asked, looking at Harry suspiciously.

"Because I want to show you something."

Reluctantly he gave Harry his hand (Not literally though) and Harry carefully, so he didn't wake him up, laid it flat on Draco stomach just above the waistband of his pajamas.

"Do you feel that? [Daniel nodded without saying a word] That's your little brother or sister." Harry told him.

Daniel took his hand of Draco's stomach and looked at Harry as if he had gone mad. "What? My brother or sister is in there?"

Harry nodded and chuckled as Daniel leant forward and said "Hi" to Draco's stomach, obviously talking to the baby inside.

Harry pulled Daniel away from Draco and said, "Shush. You'll wake Daddy up."

"Yeah! Shush. You'll wake daddy up." A voice said sleepily.

Draco sat up and yawned, "What time is it?"

"5.15" Harry replied looking at the clock on the bedside table.

"5.15!" Draco repeated, "well I'm going back to sle-" he paused as his eyes fell on his son, who was sat on Harry's knee listening intently to his parents' conversation, not saying anything.

"What don't I get a good morning hug as well?"

"Morning Daddy!" Daniel exclaimed throwing his arms around Draco's neck.

"That's more like it. Morning sweetie."

At that moment there was a soft knock on the bedroom door, and Ginny's head appeared a second later, "There you are! Hi guys. Come on Danny, we're going to the fair."

"Yeah the fair!!!" Danny yelled jumping up and down on the bed.

"Calm down." Draco said, trying to pull his already very excited son back down so he could give him a kiss before Ginny took him to the Muggle fair. "Now listen Danny. I want you to be good for aunt Ginny. Can you do that for me?"

"Of course I can Daddy."

"Come on Danny, we'll miss the train." Ginny said.

"Ok. Bye daddy." Daniel yelled as he followed Ginny out of the room.

****

Another time jump: 15 years later.

"Dad? Where are you?" Twenty nine-year old Sally's voice floated up through the empty house, breaking the silence that had settled upon it.

Draco didn't answer her, he couldn't find his voice.

"Dad?" The voice came again, this time it was closer to him. "There you are." She said pausing in the doorway to the attic. "What are you doing up here?"

Draco didn't answer her again, he couldn't. Instead he just lifted up the book he was looking at silently. Silent tears flowing down his cheeks.

"What's that?" She asked curiously, crossing the room and crouching down next to Draco.

"It was your father's diary. From his sixth year at school."

"Can I look?" she asked, cautiously. She didn't want to invade her Dad's privacy's unless it was Ok with Draco. Draco just nodded and handed her the book.

She opened the book to a random page, careful not to tear the pages on the already delicate book and began to read.

23^rd December 1998

Dear Diary,

Most people use diaries to record things bad that happen in their lives and slag off people that they hate, but what can I say I love my life and the people around me, well maybe not Snape. I even love Draco, (When did he stop being Malfoy?) I hate having to keep a secret inside me that I know I can never share with anyone but I have to keep this one hidden. If anyone found knew the famous Harry Potter was gay I don't know what they'd do. So for now what they don't know can't hurt them. I wish that there were someway of telling him how I feel about him without him remembering afterwards but I know this is an impossible wish and it can never come true. Although a memory charm might work, no I don't think I could bring myself do that to him, even if I did pluck up the courage to tell him. Every time I go to sleep late at night the same dream haunts me. Me and him in twenty-five years time married and living happily ever after, like a fairytale, with four kids. I know this is sad but I already know what I want. I want two girls and two boys, maybe called Sally, Daniel, Tom, Emma. I've even wrote out vows for my imaginary wedding to him:
Draco, through all the tears and struggles I always knew in my heart that we'd make it here. I love you and I promise to keep on loving you in this life, the next and whatever comes after that. Not just as your husband but as your friend and your lover. I will never leave you, Draco, you're my soul mate.
But like it's ever gonna happen, all he does is slag me and my friends off and he never has one nice thing to say about me. And I think he's jealous because he's never beat me in a Quidditch match (Touchwood) and fairy tales don't exist anywhere other than in people's imaginations….

Sally didn't feel like she could go on reading she couldn't see anymore her eyes were so full with tears. She closed the book and put it back in Harry's old school trunk.

"Did you read the part about where he wrote down the wedding vows?" She nodded mutely, "He said those exact words to me. And he never kept his promise." Draco said, breaking down and crying uncontrollably into her daughter's shoulders.

"Shush Dad. It's going to be Ok. At least he's with Grandma and Granddad." She whispered trying to make him feel better. It worked a bit too.

"Yeah I know. I just don't understand it." Draco whispered back.

"Dad how can we ever understand it? We lost him. Do you remember when I was little, when I made you watch all those Disney Muggle movies? [Draco nodded] Well the one I remember most is Lion King. When Simba's dad died he couldn't handle it but then he remembered something his Dad told him. The ones we love never truly leave us but they watch over us every day and every night and if you listen really closely you can hear their voice in the wind reminding us that they are always there. So he will always keep his promise to you Dad." Draco said nothing for a moment and then said,

"I just don't know how to go on without him? I mean for the first six years at Hogwarts we hated each other and then ever since I've been with him. And I can't remember what life was like without him. I just want him back." He said, crying into Sally's shoulder again.

"I guess you just have to take it one step at a time. And always remember in your heart that we'll see him again one day. Come on. You need to get something to eat."

*****

Sally pulled him down the stairs through the house to the kitchen. The house was deadly silent, ever since Harry had fallen victim to the Avada Kedavra curse by a unidentified Death Eater who was out for revenge against the person who finally defeated his master. Harry had been out late one dark night getting some groceries from the supermarket on the corner of the street when he was attacked, no one was around to help him so he didn't stand a chance against the Death Eater. When Draco had found out about what happened he turned in to a nervous wreak and refused to leave the house for days, he only left to attend Harry's funeral. And to bury him, right next to his parents.

Sat at the kitchen table was his 15-year-old daughter, Emma; she looked up from the cup of coffee she was drinking when he walked into the room. "Hi Dad."

"Hi sweetie."

When Harry had died Sally, Tom and Daniel had moved back in with Draco. They felt it wasn't really fair to leave him all alone at a time like this. And Emma couldn't take care of Draco all on her own either. Sometimes Draco found it hard to be in the same room as Emma, because even though she had Draco's hair she had Harry's emerald green eyes and it just depressed him even more. It was even harder to be in the same room as Daniel, he was a spitting image of Harry. When he was younger he had been small and skinny, just like Harry was and now he was twenty-two and had matured in to an exact replica of Harry, minus the scar and glasses.

*****

That night Draco was lying awake alone in bed, he couldn't sleep he just kept thinking of Harry. He got up and silently walked over to this balcony doors, opened them and stepped out into the cool night air. He stood there alone looking up at the stars, the tearing starting to fall again. Suddenly there was a big gust of wind and Draco could have sworn he heard a voice that sounded just like Harry's. He thought this was impossible but then he remembered what Sally had said; if you listen really closely you can hear their voice in the wind reminding us that they are always there.

"Harry?" Draco whispered into the night, "Harry I'm not sure if you can here me up there, but if you can here this. I don't know how to go on living without you. What about the kids? What about Emma? She's only fifteen she needs you. I need you. I read your diary Harry. The one where you wrote down the vows from the wedding and you said you'd never leave me, how could you break your promise Harry." Draco stopped talking to sky, and turned around, starting to walk back into the house, tears streaming down his face, when he heard it again, "Draco"

Draco turned around and looked into the night sky but there was nothing there, he was about to walk back when he happened to look down into the garden, and stood by the apple tree that they had planted together was a figure that was unmistakably Harry. "Harry?" Draco whispered again. The figure in the garden nodded and smiled. "But how? You're - you're -" he couldn't get the words out, he felt like there was a still a chance he would wake up tomorrow next to Harry after a particularly bad nightmare.

"Draco, baby. I'm dead. You know it." The voice was just above a whisper, but Draco caught every word of it. "It was my time to go, I need you to stay here and be strong for me. I want you to look after the kids and make sure they have the best life that they could possibly have. I know its going to be tough on you but it want you to remember that I love you and I always will. Live your live Draco, I'll be waiting for you." Harry's ghost blew him a final kiss before disappearing.

Draco sat there on the balcony crying for hours until he fell asleep out there.

*****